About Jerry Estep, MD

Jerry Estep, MD, is the Head of the Section of Heart Failure and Transplantation in the Tomsich Family Department of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute. He sees patients at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.

Number of Patients Treated: Dr. Estep participates in the evaluation of more than 200 advanced heart failure patients annually. He has participated in the management of more than 500 patients who have undergone heart transplantation or received an LVAD as treatment for advanced heart failure and performed more than 1,000 endomyocardial biopsies and right heart catheterizations to guide treatment for these patients.

Education and Training: Dr. Estep earned his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. After completing his residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, he returned to Baylor for a fellowship in heart failure and transplantation at Houston Methodist Hospital and the Texas Heart Institute. He also has completed a physician leadership course at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas.

Research, Publications and Speaking: Dr. Estep has been involved in more than 50 clinical trials related to heart failure and heart transplantation. As the national lead investigator on the ROADMAP trial, he helped better define the role of LVADs in advanced heart failure patients. He subsequently served as co-chair of a committee in the American Society of Echocardiography that defined the role of echocardiography in the management of patients with LVADs.

Dr. Estep has authored or co-authored more than 100 published articles and abstracts related to advanced heart failure, cardiac transplantation, LVADs and multi-modality imaging. He also is a frequent presenter on heart failure diagnosis and treatment at cardiology education events at national and international cardiology meetings, including the American College of Cardiology, Heart Failure Society of America and International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation.

About Dr. Estep: “I enjoy the heart failure field because it gives me the opportunity to connect with patients with varying severities of heart failure who require different treatment plans and discussions. For those patients with the most advanced form of heart failure, it is my privilege to work with a team of heart failure providers to offer life-saving interventions like heart transplantation and left ventricular assist device therapy. To play a role in our patients’ journey from being severely ill to improved health and resumption of their normal life activities is extraordinary satisfying.”

Leisure Activities: In his leisure time, Dr. Estep enjoys travel and spending time with his wife and twin daughters.

Innovations & Patents

Dr. Estep played a key role in the development of a novel minimally invasive technique to place intra-aortic balloon pumps in the axillary (underarm) artery to permit patients with advanced heart failure to sit upright and walk. Several advanced heart failure centers nationwide have adopted this technique since its publication in 2013 to better help patients who require extended support for more than a few days.